DUIs down slightly over Memorial Day

This is appropriate for a Friday afternoon -- since a lot of us may have 'imbibe' on our weekend schedules. I know I could certainly use a Speights.

Over this past Memorial Day weekend, DUI arrests in L.A. County went from 1,614 in 2007 to 1,450, according to Chris Cochran, spokesman for the state Office of Traffic Safety.

Cochran said he didn't know why the drop -- it may have just been a matter of police being in the right place at the right time. The office of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger just directed nearly $8.4 million in funds to L.A. County just for anti-DUI programs. That means more sobriety checkpoints.

It's good the county got the money, it's bad they need it. But that, sadly, is the trend.

There were 17,602 fatalities in alcohol-related crashes in 2006 in the U.S., the most since 1996, according to federal statistics. The '07 numbers should be available soon.

Memo to everyone: don't drink and drive. Ever. The state is pulling some more DUI stats for the Southland for us, so we can post more about this horrific problem.

--Steve Hymon